Author Archives: Grant Barrett

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Nimrod

Today’s word of the day is nimrod. Most Americans today know it only as an insult meaning “jerk” or “loser,” but it has also historically meant “skillful hunter.” That meaning comes from Nimrod, explained in the Bible as a mighty hunter, king of Shinar, grandson of Ham, a great-grandson of Noah. The newer, less-kind meaning probably comes from the phrase “poor little Nimrod,” used by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny to mock the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd. The reference passed by a lot of cartoon-viewers and they interpreted it as an insult they’d never heard before.

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Alaia

Today’s word of the day is alaia, a fin-less, long, old-fashioned Hawaiian surfboard. As one tweeter wrote, “the comeback of the alaia is official when the NYTimes covers it.”

George Marvin’s 1914 article from Outing has pictures and stories about the alaia’s former glory days and this apt line: “Stripped to a blue breech clout, with his light ‘alaia’ like a dark mahogany ironing-board under his arm.”

From “Riding the Surf at Waikiki,” Outing, vol. LXIV, April 1914-September 1914
old-timer-surfer.sm

 

Modern video of a surfers on the alaia.

 

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Cahot and soul soles

Today’s word of the day is cahot, a rare word of French origin, referring to a bank or ridge of snow which has been heaped up across a road by passing sleighs, leaving a corresponding depression behind; hence, a surface-undulation or ridge-like inequality which, with the corresponding depression, is known in the United States as a thank-you-ma’am. Cahot is pronounced /kuh-HOE/ or /kuh-HOO/. John Barlett has more about cahot and thank-you-ma’am in his 1877 Dictionary of Americanisms.

Today’s list of the day is called “all animals are created equal.” It features animals matched with homophones: soul sole, bore boar, aunt ant, and so forth.